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I love shadow boxes. I made one of the first vacation that my husband and I took without our kids. We met friends on the pier in BC and fished, I have my tickets to Buchart Gardens, (absolutely fabulous, DH didn't want to go, but we went fishing for him so gardens for me. He enjoyed it) our ferry passes and on and on. Photos, shells and brocures of places we went to. It is falling apart now and I need to replace it with our first tropical vacation stuff from last winter.

I finally put the binding on the flannel king quilt and have been diligently sewing away. It is cool enough in the house that i can drape it over my lap and watch TV and sew. Whith a cup of tea, the perfect quiet evening.

I finished step 2 of the mystery quilt today, and then I took the flannel rag quilt to the coin laundry in town for its initial washing. I made it for DH, but Calley says she may claim it as her own. I mentioned in my gallery posting that I ended up using a few flannels that had white backs because the woven flannels are getting hard to find, but those cheaper flannels don't fray as well. You can see them in the smaller squares. I guess I shouldn't say those are cheaper flannels. I used Moda's wool & needle flannel.

Calley just turned 5 yesterday. Look at how much white she's showing already. Getting gray early just like her people mom.

On the banks of the Mississippi River in north central Minnesota (Brainerd lakes area)

Nancy, love your rag quilt. It is the same pattern I made mine from years ago - I only ever made one - I can't do that snipping even with the scissors that they developed just for it. I might make one again though as they have blades for the accu quilt cutter that cuts them before you sew them together... Have thought about it. Our rag quilt sets in DH's chair and you are not allowed to move it - it is his...teehee..

Here is a picture of SS#1 all quilted up with the buttons on it that are the last thing you do - it was not easy ... have to do it one more time...

You can see my quilting - I am not anywhere close to perfect but I like it.

I posted 2 picture of it because I think you can see my quilting better in the picture I didn't use a flash for... I did have fun doing this one and hoping that the lessons I learned will make the 2nd one even better... I can hope..teehee

I blame all my problems on Mishka - how do you sew with this little guy telling you - time to quit that quilt is mine for the night...teehee

Here is something for everyone to laugh about.... I made a rag quilt that I had embroidered my husbands softball teams name on every other square. He played evening games in the spring and it gets a little chilly, I had not yet washed the quilt because I get to the laundry mat. Anyway, I went out of town for 3 weekAn and John was cleaning out the Jeep and noticed that the quilt was soiled after several weeks of use at the ballpark, so he decided to wash it for me. In our washing machine at home. He told me it took him "hours" to clean the washer and vents and even the yard where the dryer is vented from all the fuzz. I laughed so hard that I cried. I told him I was putting of washing it till I had to the time to go to the laundry mat. He said now you tell me. LOL. This is a create example of "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished".

I hate the laundromat - so I think I did mine in my own washer and dryer... not sure ... but my mats from the bathroom when I wash them I have to clean the washer and dryer... I am just a dummy - but a DH doing the wash - that is too funny... he was helping though wasn't he... mine would have just left it setting there dirty... waiting for me to come home. I actually like it that way as I have this horrible OCB with cleaning things - I go behind whomever is cleaning and clean it again... I am smiling though at seeing your DH cleaning all that mess up...teehee

MN Nancy, Callye's new quilt is cute, maybe someday you can make another for hubie, lol. Shhhhhh, Thea, don't wake Mishka. He looks exhausted! So nice to have a qult in progress to nap on.

I don't think I worked on a quilt today, I battled one. I finished the top for my dil's quilt and brought home 2 6 foot tables from work to sandwich it. They weren't large enough to get all of the quilt on so I tried doing it in sections. I used basting spray and got the batting onto the backing. The batting was smooth and looked good. Fortunatly I looked at the back before I went to the next step. It looked awful so I had to take it apart. It was all gooey and sticky from the basting spray. I have used basting spray many times and it never did this. There was no way I could get it together by myself. The only thing I could think to do was try washing the batting and backing. The backing is two lengths of fabric plus a row of blocks to make it large enough. Believe it or not it came through the delicate cycle fine. I also washed the pieced batting on delicate and it came out fine. I went to JoAnns to get some safety pins because I didn't want to try that spray again. The pins were rather pricey so instead I bought some basting needles and was going to hand baste. I also brought home another 6 foot table and ended up with a 7.5 foot x 6 foot suface. The borders are hanging off, but I can live with that. However, it quickly became obvious I was not going to be able to hand baste. So, back to JoAnns for safety pins. The clips I use to hold the backing won't fit these tables so I tried using elastic using Leah Day's method. I got the entire quilt basted with safety pins, about a million or maybe just a few hundred, lol. So, I check the back and it looked awful. The elastic method didn't work for me. So then I took out the two million safety pins, they must have multiplied. I went to Home Depot looking for some larger clamps, they were way to expensive. The clerk suggested Harbor Freight so I went there and found some gread clamps for $1 each. Came home and started to press the bafking again and relized that all the basting spray had not come out. Grrrrr! I washed it again and it is in the dryer right now. I also had to wash the top. I realized that it would shrink more than the batting and backing if I didn't. So, I put it in a king size pillow case and sewed it shut and put it through the delicate cycle. It came through fine. So I am back to square one with this quilt. I accomplished a whole lot of nothing, but I can still laugh about it.

Pat - my heart goes out to you - I baste my quilts in sections - I clamp the backing down to the wood piece my DH made to go over our pool table - so it is about 8' x 4'... I know now wide enough - but I center it both ways and clamp that backing piece down - then I lay the batting on top and smooth it down... after that I lay the top down just to make sure my measurements were correct and I have the backing that I need and the batting... I then take the top back off and fold the batting up half way across in 1/4 segments - I spray that part on the backing then fold the batting back down over it and smooth as I go - then I spray that last section and smooth out again...I then go to the other side of the table and do that section same way - after I get the batting on - I do the top - once all the part that is clamped down is done.. I remove the clamps and move the quilt over - I reclamp on the edge now and do the other side that didn't get done when clamped down... I then unclamp and move across the table and clamp down and do that last side that needs to be done.

After all this - I take it to the ironing board and starting in the middle on the back first - I press from the middle out in all directions... I then turn it over and do the top gently - this is to make sure I don't have any pleats or creases - I press usually for about a 2 hour time period...

I often wish I had a frame to do this on - DH made me one one time to just baste my quilts on but I have no where right now to put it up.

I am surprised that the quilting spray came out and didn't ruin both the backing and the batting...

I wish you good luck - it can be very exasperating to try and do the basting by yourself... I wish you better luck when you get it out of the dryer.

I blame all my problems on Mishka - how do you sew with this little guy telling you - time to quit that quilt is mine for the night...teehee

I really like your quilts. I think your cat does too.

Thank you Weezee56. My cats love my quilts and love to exasperate me when I am trying to sew... Most times I try to pick Mishka up and put him over to the side but most nights he is back within about 10 minutes telling me forget it - lol...